Kane makes the difference again as Tottenham's bare minimum sees off Portsmouth

FA Cup Third Round

Tottenham (0) 1 Kane 51

Portsmouth (0) 0

Harry Kane bagged his 17th goal of the season for Spurs as they did just about enough to book their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

It was the 265th of his Spurs career and leaves him one shy of all-time record holder Jimmy Greaves.

As so often of late, it took half the match before Antonio Conte’s side roused itself into action. They allowed the visitors to get a firm toe-hold in the match rather than impose themselves in the off, but improved sufficiently to see off a game Pompey.

Pompey looked anything but the mid-table League One outfit they are in the opening passages – playing with confidence and buoyed no doubt but a vociferous and plentiful away end.

Perhaps they were playing with a sense of history, as the club won’t forget the famous 2-0 victory over Tottenham at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final on their way to the 2010 final.

There is also the simple fact that they won a trophy more recently than their supposed superiors – having lifted the trophy in 2008, a few months on from the last piece of silverware that came this way in the League Cup final of that year.

Their fans jeered every misplaced or overhit pass from their opponents – there were plenty of them - and celebrated every tackle or corner won. Classic cup tie stuff, in other words.

Fraser Forster – relieving Hugo Lloris of goalkeeping duties – had to dive low to his right to keep out an overhead kick from Recco Hackett-Fairchild as the under-awed away side carried the fight to their Premier League hosts.

By contrast, Spurs, with a strong line-up despite resting a number of first-team regulars like Romero, Lenglet and Hojbjerg, created nothing in the opening 45 minutes.

But, as is so often the case with this team, it was a different story after the break. They are very much a second-half side these days.

Emerson Royal headed a Heung-Min Son cross onto the inside if the far post and a few minutes later, Kane rifled in from the edge of the area after a one-two with Ryan Sessegnon and a sidestep around a Pompey defender.

Very soon more chances were coming their way as they upped the tempo. Oliver Skipp – who was a last-minute replacement for Yves Bissouma - blazed over after latching on to space created by a lively Bryan Gil.

In the scheme of things, it wasn’t that much, but it got the job done.

Spurs: (3-4-2-1) Forster – Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies – Emerson Royal, Skipp, Sarr, Sessegnon (Spence 77) – Gil (Devine 90), Son – Kane. Subs not used: Lloris, Doherty, Hojbjerg, Romero, Lenglet, White, Bissouma

Pompey: (3-4-3) Griffiths – Morrison, Raggett, Ogilvie – Swanson, Tunnicliffe (Thompson 75), Morell (Jacobs 85), Hume – Hackett-Fairchild (Koroma 75), Bishop (Pigott 85), Dale (Curtis 87). Subs not used: Oluwayemi, Freeman, Payce, Dockerill

Attendance: 60,161